December 3, 2006 CARACAS – President Hugo Chavez Frias was re-elected for his second 6 year term today in a massive victory over his opponent, Manuel Rosales.
He was first elected president in 1998 when he convened a constitutional assembly to rewrite Venezuela’s constitution to build economic justice, national sovereignty and self-determination. The new constitution was passed in 1999 and approved in a national referendum, requiring a new election in the year 2000. Chavez was re-elected in this year to begin his first six-year term.
During his first year term the Chavez administration began at the bottom of Venezuelan society, attacking poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, homelessness, economic injustice and the loss of the country’s oil reserves and other natural resources to exploitive transnational corporations.
On December 3 a large majority of Venezuelans delivered a powerful mandate to this administration. International observers exit polls confirmed the results of the election with Chavez receiving about 63% (7.1 million votes) of the vote and Rosales 37% (4.1 million) as reported by the National Election Commission (CNE). The CNE ran an extremely well-organized and efficient electoral process.
Andy Goodall, Coordinator of Venezuela Solidarity Campaign (VSC) in Britain and I, accompanied for part of the day by Venezuelan National Assembly Deputy, Augusto Montiel, spent the day observing the elections together.
At 6:00 AM on November 30 the presidential campaigns were ended as required, according to Venezuelan law. After this time, no campaigning is permitted to continue until the CNE (National Election Commission) reports the official count of the votes. Likewise, no news organization is allowed to support either candidate in any way or to report on exit polls or partial returns – or to suggest who may be the winner during this period.
Early in the morning of December 3 fireworks and a lively playing of the military reveille woke me in my Caracas hotel room to announce Election Day. We witnessed queues of voters in Altamira, a municipality in Caracas known for its wealthy population, plush houses and its support for Manuel Rosales and in a “mixed sector” called Bello Campo. Some of the queues were as long as 4 city blocks at 8 a.m. but less than 2 minutes were required for an individual to vote. The people in the queues were quiet and solemn, but those we interviewed appeared to be calm and offered no complaints about the electoral process. By 2 PM, these queues and voting stations were almost empty.
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Deputy Augusto Montiel drove us through Barrio Petare to introduce us to his constituency. In the photo shows us evidence of his vote with the ink on his finger, placed there by election officials when he voted. |
We then visited the polling stations in the second largest Barrio in Latin America, Petare, in the sector José Félix Ribas, where voters and polling stations stood in striking contrast to those in Altamira. Like all Barrios in Venezuela, the houses are stacked on steep hillsides with narrow streets and steps between them. Most of the people on the streets and in the queues were dressed in the hallmark red of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR), the political party of President Chavez. Our great friend Augusto Montiel, an elected Member of the National Assembly (congress) generously took time from his schedule to drive us through the Barrio for the rest of the day on the back of his pickup truck. At 4 PM the voting stations continued with long lines of people waiting to cast their votes, overwhelmingly for President Chavez. We rode through the Barrio on the back of the pickup truck driven by the National Deputy.
The streets were lined with people after the vote, giving voice to their love for Chavez
In stark contrast to the people in Altamira and Bello Campo, the people were still voting into the night as they had been all day, whereas the Rosales supporters finished voting by 2 PM. This important fact alone indicated the final results of the election. Unlike the quiet residents of Altamira, the streets of Petare were lined with people who remained after voting to give voice to their love for President Chavez and the empowerment that comes only from people who control their own destinies and are thus filled with hope.
One of many impromptu street bands celebrating victory at the voting stations
They know that under Chavez, they have become equal citizens of Venezuela for the first time in 500 years after the conquistadores of the Spanish Empire set foot there in 1499. The positive energy that flowed up and down the streets of Petare and in many other places in Venezuela was simply overwhelming to witness. People continued chanting, laughing, drumming, singing and dancing on the streets and sidewalks long into the night. When the cheering momentarily dropped, a single “Viva Chavez!!!” brought new explosions of joy from small to large gatherings of smiling “Chavistas” … and this went on and on and on from these tireless patriots of their country and their “great homeland”, Latin America.
The polling stations were scheduled to close at 4 PM but were kept open for those who were still in queues at that time. After the last qualified voter in Venezuela cast their vote, the polling stations were closed. Following this exhilarating visit to Petare Andy Goodall and I were asked to appear on national television to be interviewed about our impressions of the electoral process in Venezuela and the events of the day. We were interviewed individually, first on ANTV (the National Assembly station) and later on Vive TV a popular station, both in Central Caracas, broadcasting throughout Venezuela.
While waiting in the expansive and beautifully appointed halls of Vive TV, we heard drumming and singing coming from somewhere in the building. Following our ears, we found a man, surrounded by about 10 others, pounding the beat on a large water bottle to a well known love song here – a love song for Venezuela. Soon people came out of their offices and were joined by a large number of youth who also heard the music and came in from the streets – all decked out in bright MVR red.
The small band of chanting, singing dancers swelled to about 75 people and morphed into a march through the halls of Vive TV – led by a youth playing his trumpet, backed by more drums. The chants and songs reverberated off the walls and left not a corner of this grand building without a raucous, loving tribute to the man who has been empowering them for 8 years and running. The march ended in a cavernous room, overlooking Caracas where the crowd continued to sing and dance out their celebratory fervor beyond the time that we left, following our interviews.
When we reached the street at about 10 p.m. on Election Night the beautiful weather of the day turned in a tropical deluge as the CNE announced election results. As we drove through Central Caracas in the downpour toward our hotel, suddenly there appeared a “red tide” flooding the streets in the rain – thousands of “Chavistas” flowing around and past our vehicle in the opposite direction – they were headed for Miraflores Palace where President Chavez was to address his supporters from the balcony of the people. Tens of thousands in the plaza and millions across Venezuela cheered as he delivered his message:
YOU HAVE NOT VOTED FOR CHAVEZ TODAY. YOU HAVE VOTED FOR YOURSELVES AND FOR ALL THE PEOPLE OF VENEZUELA!
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Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez stands with his daughter Rosa on the balcony of the Miraflores Palace after official election results gave him a victory by a wide margin in Caracas, December 3, 2006. MCI PHOTO (Venezuelan Ministry of Communication and Information) |
Just when we thought that nothing could ever compare to our experience in the Barrio, earlier in the day, we were lifted even higher by this spectacular tide of transcendent power from the hearts of a people with a mission. The robust and triumphant march toward the palace was teeming with faces aglow, smiles as only Venezuelans can smile, raised arms and more jumping, singing, dancing through the rain … and chanting …. UH! AH! CHAVEZ NO SE VA! (Chavez will not go!) Celebrations continued throughout most of the cities, towns and countryside through the night. On the following day, people slept in the sweetness of their victory over tyranny, poverty, isolation and injustice. President Chavez summed it up: “We have deepened the revolution today”.
We will be reporting again this week on the days after the election. We will discuss the behavior of both presidential candidates and in particular the questions Candidate Rosales raised about the validity of the electoral process at mid-day, while people were still voting.
Look for our report on the “night after” protest against the election by Rosales supporters in Plaza de Altamira. That report will include the reaction of the wealthy Venezuelan minority (the “opposition”) who it appears, did not vote so much for Manuel Rosales as they did against the man who has been steadily eroding the barriers to true equal opportunity for all Venezuelans. We will also report from La Victoria, a small city about an hour west of Caracas – where a reverent hush falls upon those who hear the name of the great statesman, Simon Bolivar – the man whose vision and “esperanza” (hope), a United Latin America - has been a centuries-old dream resurrected now by the people under the leadership of Hugo Chavez Frias.
- Les Blough in Caracas
© Copyright 2006 by AxisofLogic.com
AXIS OF LOGIC PHOTOS FROM BARRIO PETARE
ON ELECTION DAY, DECEMBER 3, 2006
Views from the top of Barrio Petare
(Photos may be republished. Please give proper credit)